Middle English (Northern Middle English (North and East Riding), East Midlands Middle English (West Riding dialect))
Dialects
Traditionally divided between the West Riding, the North Riding, and East Riding dialects. Different varieties exist within the variousdialects of Yorkshire, shaped by geography & culture.
Yorkshire dialect, also known asYorkshire English,Broad Yorkshire,Tyke, orYorkie, is a grouping of several regionally neighbouringdialects ofEnglish spoken inYorkshire.[1] Yorkshire experienced drasticdialect levelling in the 20th century, eroding many traditional features, thoughvariation and eveninnovations persist, at both the regional and sub-regional levels.[2][3] Organisations such as the Yorkshire Dialect Society and the East Riding Dialect Society exist to promote the survival of the more traditional features.[4]
The dialects have been represented in classic works of literature such asWuthering Heights,Nicholas Nickleby andThe Secret Garden, and linguists have documented variations of the dialects since the 19th century. In the mid-20th century, theSurvey of English Dialects collected dozens of recordings of authentic Yorkshire dialects.
Based on fragments of early studies on the dialect, there seem to have been few distinctions across large areas: in the early 14th century, the traditionalNorthumbrian dialect of Yorkshire showed few differences compared to the dialect spoken inAberdeen, now often considered a separateScots language.[5][6] The dialect has been widely studied since the 19th century, including an early work byWilliam Stott Banks in 1865 on the dialect ofWakefield,[7] and another byJoseph Wright who used an early form of phonetic notation in a description of the dialect ofWindhill, nearBradford.[8] Significant works that covered all of England includeAlexander John Ellis's 1899 bookOn Early English Pronunciation, Part V, and theEnglish Dialect Dictionary, which was published in six volumes between 1898 and 1905.
Charles Dickens'Nicholas Nickleby (1839) andEmily Brontë'sWuthering Heights (1847) are notable 19th century works of literature which include examples of contemporary Yorkshire dialects. The following is an excerpt of Brontë's use of contemporary West Riding dialect from Haworth inWuthering Heights, with a translation to standard English below:
'Aw wonder how yah can faishion to stand thear i' idleness un war, when all on 'ems goan out! Bud yah're a nowt, and it's no use talking—yah'll niver mend o'yer ill ways, but goa raight to t' divil, like yer mother afore ye!'
'I wonder how you can dare to stand there in idleness and worse, when all of them have gone out! But you're a nobody, and it's no use talking—you'll never mend your evil ways, but go straight to the Devil, like your mother before you!'
Yorkshire covers a large area, and the dialect is not the same in all areas. In fact, the dialects of the North and East Ridings are fairly different from that of the West Riding, as they display only Northumbrian characteristics rather than the mixture of Northumbrian & Mercian features found in the West Riding.[9] The Yorkshire Dialect Society draws a border roughly at theRiver Wharfe between two main zones. The area southwest of the river has been influenced by Mercian, originating from theEast Midlands dialects during the industrial revolution, whilst that to the northeast, likeGeordie, theCumbrian dialect and theScots language, is descended more purely from theNorthumbrian dialect. The distinction was first made byA. J. Ellis inOn Early English Pronunciation.[notes 1] The division was approved of byJoseph Wright, the founder of the Yorkshire Dialect Society and the author of theEnglish Dialect Dictionary. Investigations at village level by the dialect analysts Stead (1906), Sheard (1945) and Rohrer (1950) mapped a border between the two areas.[10] A rough border between the two areas was mapped by the Swiss linguist Fritz Rohrer, having undertaken village-based research in areas indicated by previous statements by Richard Stead and J.A. Sheard, although there were "buffer areas" in which a mixed dialect was used, such as a large area betweenLeeds andRipon, and also atWhitgift, nearGoole.[11]
One report explains the geographic difference in detail:[12]
This distinction was first recognised formally at the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries, when linguists drew an isophone diagonally across the county from the northwest to the southeast, separating these two broadly distinguishable ways of speaking. It can be extended westwards through Lancashire to the estuary of the River Lune, and is sometimes called theHumber-Lune Line. Strictly speaking, the dialects spoken south and west of this isophone are Midland dialects, whereas the dialects spoken north and east of it are truly Northern. It is likely that the Midland influence came up into the region with people migrating towards the manufacturing districts of the West Riding during the Industrial Revolution.
Over time, speech has become closer toStandard English and some of the features that once distinguished one town from another have disappeared. In 1945, J. A. Sheard predicted that various influences "will probably result in the production of a standard West Riding dialect", andK. M. Petyt found in 1985 that "such a situation is at least very nearly in existence".[13]
TheSurvey of English Dialects in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s recorded over 30 examples of authentic Yorkshire dialects which can be heard online via theBritish Library Sound Archive.[14] Below is a selection of recordings from this archive:
Miss Madge Dibnah (b.1890) ofWelwick,East Yorkshire, "female housekeeper".[15] According to the Library, "much of her speech remains part of the local dialect to this day".[16][17]
Some features of Yorkshire pronunciation are general features of northern English accents. Many of them are listed in thenorthern English accents section on theEnglish English page.
Vowels of North West Yorkshire English on a vowel chart, fromWilhelm (2018:6). The vowel space is compressed downwards, withFACE,GOAT,SQUARE andTHOUGHT being given a monophthongal, significantly more open realization[e̞ː,ö̞ː,ɛ̞ː,ɒ̝ː] than in RP and Scottish English. Conversely,FLEECE andGOOSE are realized as wide, Cockney-like diphthongs[əɪ,əʉ].[22]
Words such asstrut, cut, blood, lunch usually take[ʊ], although[ə] is a middle-class variant.[23]
Most words affected by thetrap-bath split of South East England – the distinction between the sounds[a] and[ɑː] – are not affected in Yorkshire. The long[ɑː] of southern English is widely disliked in the "bath"-type words.[24] However, words such aspalm, can't, spa are pronounced with a long vowel, usually more fronted[aː].
In parts of the West Riding,none, one, once, nothing, tongue, among(st) are pronounced with[ɒ] rather than[ʊ][25] Ashibboleth for a traditional Huddersfield accent is the wordlove as[lɒv], pronounced with the same vowel as "lot".[26]
Words such aslate, face, say, game are pronounced with amonophthong[eː] or[ɛː]. However, words with <gh> in the spelling (e.g. straight, weight), as well as exclamations and interjections such ashey andeh (the tag question), are usually pronounced with adiphthong[ɛɪ]. Some words withake at the end may be pronounced with[ɛ], as in take totek, make tomek and sake tosek (but not forbake orcake).[25][27]
Words with the vowel/əʊ/ inReceived Pronunciation, as ingoat, may have a monophthong[oː] or[ɔː].[25] In a recent trend, a fronted monophthong[ɵː] is common amongst young women, although this has been the norm for a long time in Hull (where it originates).[27][28][29] It has developed only since 1990, yet it has now spread toBradford.[30] historically there was a four-way split whereby a diphthong[ɔʊ] (west riding) or[au] (north and east ridings) exists in words subject to vocalisation in middle English (e.g.grow, glow, bow, bowt, fowk, nowt, owt forgrow, glow, bow, bought, folk, nought, ought respectively").[31] The Os in some words are pronounced as[ɒ], such asoppen,brokken,wokken foropen, broken, woken. Other words spelled ow were pronounced with an aw sound[ɒː] such asknaw, snaw, blaw forknow, snow, blow, from old English āw. An[ɒɪ] (west riding) or[ʊə] (north and east ridings) sound was found in words that were subject to lengthening of Old English [o] in middle English such ascoil, hoil in the West Riding andcooal, hooal in the North and East Ridings forcoal, hole . Another was[ʊə] (west riding) or[ja~ɪə~eː] (north and east ridings) that originated from old English ā (e.g. West Ridingbooan, hooam, booath, looaf, mooast and North and East Ridingbeean, yam, baith, leeaf, maist forbone, home, both, loaf, most). This four-way split was found throughout all of northern England and contrasted with the historic two-way split found in the south and midlands.
Due to dialect levelling, however, these sounds were merged into the modern monophthong[oː],[ɔː] and[ɵː] (east riding) by the 1950s.
If a close vowel precedes/l/, aschwa may be inserted. This gives[iəl] for/iːl/ and (less frequently)[uəl] for/uːl/.[32]
When/ɛ/ precedes/r/ in a stressed syllable,/ɛ/ can become[ə]. For example,very can be pronounced[vəɹɪ].[33]
In Hull, Middlesbrough and the east coast, the sound inword,heard,nurse, etc. is pronounced in the same way as insquare, dare. This is[ɛː].[34][35] The set of words with/ɪə/, such asnear, fear, beard, etc., may have a similar pronunciation but remains distinctive as[iɛ].[36]
In other parts of Yorkshire, this sound is a short[ə] or long[ɜː]. This seems to have developed as an intermediate form between the older form[ɒ~ʊ] (now very rare in these words) and the RP pronunciation[əː].[37]
In Hull, Middlesbrough and much of the East Riding, the phoneme/aɪ/ (as inprize) may become a monophthong[aː] before a voiced consonant. For example,five becomes[faːv] (fahv),prize becomes[pʰɹaːz] (prahz). This does not occur before voiceless consonants, so "price" is[pʰɹaɪs].[38]
In the south of the west riding, Middle English /uː/ is traditionally realised as a monophthong[aː] or in the Holme Valley as a diphthong [ɛə] as indaan,abaat,naa,haa, and aat fordown, about, now, how andout
The traditional pronunciation of these words is[u:] in the east riding and the eastern part of the north riding; in the western half of the north riding and northern west riding it is[əu] as indoon, aboot, noo, hoo, oot.These are now far less common than the RP[aʊ] found throughout Yorkshire.[39]
Words likecity andmany are pronounced with a final[ɛ~e] in the Sheffield area.[25]
What would be aschwa on the end of a word in other accents is realised as[ɛ] in Hull and Middlesbrough.[34]
A prefix to a word is more likely not to take a reduced vowel sound in comparison to the same prefix's vowel sound in other accents. For example,concern is[kʰɒnˈsɜːn] or[kʰɒnˈsɛːn] rather than[kʰənˈsɜːn], andadmit is[adˈmɪt] rather than[ədˈmɪt].[40]
In some areas of the Yorkshire Dales (e.g.Dent,Sedbergh), the FLEECE vowel can beeɪ so thatme is[meɪ] andgreen is[greɪn].[41]
The following features are recessive or even extinct; generally, they are less common amongst younger than older speakers in modern Yorkshire:
Words originating from old English ō (e.g.goose, root, cool, roof, hoof) historically had an[ʊɪ] sound in the West Riding word-medially (ɡooise, rooit, cooil, rooif, hooif) as well as an[jʊ~ɪə] sound in the North and East Ridings (ɡeease, reeat, keeal, reeaf, yuf). Today a more RP-like pronunciation[ʊu] is found in all Yorkshire accents.
Traditionally in the West Riding, in word final environments and before [k],ō is realised as the vowel[ʊu] in words such asbook,cook, andlook, this also occurred in the east and north ridings, where it was realised before [k] as an/iu/ and as/iː/ in word final environments.[42]
Traditionally words such as "swear", "there", "wear" take the diphthong[iə], often writtensweer, theer, weer in dialect writing. This sound may also be used in words originating from Old English ēa, commonly speltea in standard english spelling: for example,head as[iəd] (heead),red as[riəd] (reead)leaves as[liəvz] (leeavs).[25]
[eɪ] may take the place of/iː/, especially in the West Riding in words such askey, meat, speak, either, with the second two often writtenmeyt, speyk in dialect writing.[25][27][43]
Words such asdoor, floor, four, board may take on a variety of diphthongal pronunciations,[uə,oə,ɔə,ʊə]. This is a consequence of an incompletehorse–hoarse merger.[44][45]
Words which once had avelar fricative inOld andMiddle English or a vocalised consonant may have[oʊ~ɔʊ] for/ɔː/ (e.g.browt, thowt, nowt, owt, grow, gowd, bowt forbrought, thought, nought, ought, grow, gold, bolt).[25]
Words that end-ight join the FLEECE lexical set. Today they can still be heard in their dialectal forms. For example,neet[niːt] andreet[ɹiːt].[44] This can also be heard inNova Scotia,Geordie and theLancashire dialect.
In some areas, an originally voiced consonant followed by a voiceless one can be pronounced as voiceless. For example,Bradford may be pronounced as if it wereBratford, with[t] (although more likely with aglottal stop,[ʔ]) instead of the[d] employed in most English accents. (Bradford is also pronounced asBra'fd) .Absolute is often pronounced as if it wereapsolute, with a[p] in place of the[b].[46]
As with most dialects of English, final[ŋ] sound in, for example,hearing andeating are often reduced to[n]. However,[ŋɡ] can be heard in Sheffield.[47][48]
H-dropping is common in informal speech, especially amongst the working classes.[47]
Omission of final stops/d,t/ and fricatives/f,θ,ð/, especially in function words.[47] As in other dialects,with can be reduced towi, especially before consonants.[49]Was is also often reduced towa (pronounced roughly as "woh"), even when not in contracted negative form (see table below).
A glottal stop may also be used to replace/k/ (e.g.like becomes[laɪʔ]) at the end of a syllable.[50]
The following are typical of the older generation:
In Sheffield, cases of initial "th"/ð/ become[d]. This pronunciation has led to Sheffielders being given the nickname "dee dahs" (the local forms of "thee" and "thou"/"tha").[55]
/ɡ,k/ realised as[d,t] before/l/. For example,clumsy becomes[tlʊmzɛ].[47][56]
At the time of the Survey of English Dialects, most places in Yorkshire were non-rhotic, but fullrhoticity could be found in Swaledale, Lonsdale, Ribblesdale, and the rural area west of Halifax and Huddersfield.[52] In addition, the area along the east coast of Yorkshire retained rhoticity when/r/ was in final position though not when it was in preconsonantal position (e.g.farmer[ˈfaːmɚ]).[52] A 1981 MA study found that rhoticity persisted in the towns ofHebden Bridge,Lumbutts, andTodmorden in UpperCalderdale.[57]
Rhoticity seems to have been more widespread in Yorkshire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: for example, the city of Wakefield was marked as rhotic in the works of A. J. Ellis, and the recording of a prisoner of war from Wakefield in theBerliner Lautarchiv displays rhotic speech, but the speech of Wakefield nowadays is firmly non-rhotic.[58]
These features can be found in the English Accents and Dialects collection on theBritish Library website. This website features samples of Yorkshire (and elsewhere in England) speech inwma format, with annotations on phonology inX-SAMPA substitutions of IPA phonetic transcription, lexis and grammar.
A list of non-standard grammatical features of Yorkshire speech is given below. In formal settings, these features are castigated and, as a result, their use is recessive. They are most common among older speakers and among the working class.
Definite article reduction: shortening ofthe to a form without a vowel, often written t'. See this overview and a more detailed page on the Yorkshire Dialect website, and alsoJones (2002). This is most likely to be a glottal stop[ʔ], although traditionally it was[t] or (in the areas that border Lancashire)[θ].[59]
Some dialect words persist, although most have fallen out of use. The use ofowt andnowt, derived from Old Englisha wiht andne wiht, meananything andnothing, as well assummat to meansomething. They are pronounced[aʊt] and[naʊt] in North Yorkshire, but as[ɔʊt] and[nɔʊt] in most of the rest of Yorkshire. Other examples of dialect still in use includeflayed (sometimesflayt) (scared),laik (play),roar (cry),aye (yes),nay (emphatic "no"),and all (also),anyroad (anyway) andafore (before).[60]
When making a comparison such asgreater than orlesser than, the word "nor" can be used in place of "than", e.g.better nor him.[61]
Nouns describing units of value, weight, distance, height and sometimes volumes of liquid have no plural marker. For example,ten pounds becomesten pound;five miles becomesfive mile.[62]
The wordus is often used in place ofme or in the place ofour (e.g. we should put us names on us property).[63]Us is invariably pronounced with a final[z] rather than an[s].[46]
Use of the singular second-person pronounthou (often writtentha) andthee. This is a T form in theT–V distinction, and is largely confined to male speakers.[64]
Were can be used in place ofwas when connected to a singular pronoun.[65] The reverse – i.e. producing constructions such aswe was andyou was – is also heard in a few parts of Yorkshire (e.g. Doncaster).[citation needed]
While is often used in the sense ofuntil (e.g.Unless we go at a fair lick, we'll not be home while seven.).Stay here while it shuts might cause a non-local to think that they should stay thereduring its shutting, when the order really indicates that they should stay onlyuntil it shuts.[66] Joseph Wright wrote in theEnglish Dialect Dictionary that this came from a shortening of the older wordwhile-ever.[67]
The wordself may becomesen, e.g.yourself becomesthy sen,tha sen.[68]
Similar to other English dialects, using the wordthem to meanthose is common, e.g.This used to be a pub back i them days.
The wordreight/reet is used to meanvery orreally, e.g.If Aw'm honest, Aw'm nut reight bother'd abaat it.
As in many non-standard dialects,double negatives are common, e.g.I was never scared of nobody.[69]
The relative pronoun may bewhat oras rather thanthat, e.g.other people what I've heard andHe's a man as likes his drink. Alternatively there may be no relative pronoun, e.g.I've a sister lives there.[69]
"Yon" to mean "that over there" is still used in some areas.[70]
Many words, and in particularplace names, reflectOld Norse influences due to Scandinavian settlement in Yorkshire during theOld English period. Examples include the-thorpe ending in names likeMiddlethorpe,Linthorpe, etc.[71]
In informal Yorkshire speech, negatives may be more contracted than in other varieties of English. These forms are shown in the table below. Although the final consonant is written as[t], this may be realised as[ʔ], especially when followed by a consonant.[72]
Word
Primary Contraction
Secondary Contraction
isn't
ɪznt
ɪnt
wasn't
wɒznt
wɒnt
doesn't
dʊznt
dʊnt
didn't
dɪdnt
dɪnt
couldn't
kʊdnt
kʊnt
shouldn't
ʃʊdnt
ʃʊnt
wouldn't
wʊdnt
wʊnt
oughtn't
ɔːtnt
ɔːnt
needn't
niːdnt
niːnt
mightn't
maɪtnt
maɪnt
mustn't
mʊsnt
mʊnt (uncommon)
hasn't
haznt
ant
haven't
havnt
ant
Hadn't does not become reduced to[ant]. This may be to avoid confusion withhasn't orhaven't, which can both be realised as[ant].[73]
The Yorkshire Dialect Society exists to promote and preserve the use of this extensively studied and recorded dialect. After many years of low activity, the Society gained some media attention in 2023 with their "Let's Talk Tyke" classes, teaching the traditional dialect to Yorkshire residents.[74]
The Yorkshire Dialect Society is the oldest of England's county dialect societies; it grew out of a committee of workers formed to collect material for theEnglish Dialect Dictionary. The committee was formed in October 1894 at Joseph Wright's suggestion, and the Yorkshire Dialect Society was founded in 1897. It publishes an annual volume ofThe Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society; the contents of this include studies of English dialects outside Yorkshire, e.g. the dialects of Northumberland, and Shakespeare's use of dialect.[75] It also publishes an annual Summer Bulletin of dialect poetry.
Although Joseph Wright was involved in the Society's foundation, the Society's annualTransactions published one of the first critiques of his work in 1977. Peter Anderson, then the editor of theTransactions, argued that Wright took much of his material for his workEnglish Dialect Grammar without sufficient citation from the work ofAlexander John Ellis and that Wright did Ellis "a disservice" by criticising this same work.[77]
The directorKen Loach has set several of his films in South or West Yorkshire and has stated that he does not want actors to deviate from their natural accent.[79] The relevant films by Loach includeKes (Barnsley),Days of Hope (lead actor fromDenby Dale),The Price of Coal (South Yorkshire and Wakefield),The Gamekeeper (Sheffield),Looks and Smiles (Sheffield) andThe Navigators (South and West Yorkshire). Loach's films were used in a French dialectological analysis on changing speech patterns in South Yorkshire. Loach said in his contribution that the speech in his recently released filmThe Navigators was less regionally-marked than in his early filmKes because of changing speech patterns in South Yorkshire, which the authors of the article interpreted as a move towards a more standard dialect of English.[80]
TheLyke Wake Dirge, written in old North Riding Dialect, was set to music by the folk bandSteeleye Span. Although the band was not from Yorkshire, they attempted Yorkshire pronunciations in words such as "light" and "night" as/li:t/ and/ni:t/.
The late BritishPoet Laureate,Ted Hughes originated fromMytholmroyd, close to the border withLancashire, and spent much of his childhood inMexborough,South Yorkshire.[90] His own readings of his work were noted for his "flinty" or "granite" voice and "distinctive accent"[91][92] and some said that his Yorkshire accent affected the rhythm of his poetry.[93]
The soap operaEmmerdale, formerlyEmmerdale Farm, was noted for use of broad Yorkshire, but the storylines involving numerous incomers have diluted the dialect until it is hardly heard.
In theHBO television seriesGame of Thrones, many of the characters from the North ofWesteros speak with Yorkshire accents, matching the native dialect of Sean Bean, who plays LordEddard "Ned" Stark.
The freeware action gamePoacher byBen "Yahtzee" Croshaw features Yorkshireman as a protagonist and majority of the in-game dialogues is done in Yorkshire dialect.[99]
Studies have shown that accents in theWest Riding (that is, mostly, modern West and South Yorkshire), and by extension local dialects, are well-liked among Britons and associated with common sense, loyalty, and reliability.[100][101]
^Ellis also identified a third area around Craven, Ribblesdale, upper Wensleydale and Swaledale as part of his "West Northern" area (numbered Area 31), alongside almost all of Cumbria as well as north Lancashire and south Durham. In the tradition of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, this area is usually grouped with the North Riding dialect.
^Haigh, Sarah (2015). "Investigating Regional Speech in Yorkshire: Evidence from the Millennium Memory Bank" Doctoral dissertation. University of Sheffield, 159, 171.
^Beal, Joan (2010). "Shifting Borders and Shifting Regional Identities".Language and Identities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 220.https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748635788-023.
^Rohrer, Fritz (1950). "The border between the northern and north-midland dialects in Yorkshire".Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society.VIII (I).
^Stewart, Mary; Gilbert, Holly (11 September 2020)."Science and Technology".British Library. Archived fromthe original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved14 April 2023.
^Camping, Katie (28 January 2008)."Interview: Cribs' Ryan Jarman".Huddersfield Daily Examiner.Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved26 November 2009.
^"The Syndicate". Matthew-Lewis.com.Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved6 June 2014.
^Armitage, Richard."The Ted Hughes Letters".Richard Armitage Online. RichardArmitageOnline.com.Archived from the original on 10 November 2009. Retrieved26 November 2009.
Jones, Mark J. (2002), "The origin of Definite Article Reduction in northern English dialects: evidence from dialect allomorphy",English Language and Linguistics,6 (2), Cambridge University Press:325–345,doi:10.1017/S1360674302000266,S2CID122172283
Reader's Digest (1964),Complete Atlas of the British Isles, The Reader's Digest
Stoddart, Jana; Upton, Clive; Widdowson, J. D. A. (1999), "Sheffield dialect in the 1990s: revisiting the concept of NORMs",Urban Voices, London: Arnold, pp. 72–89
Wilhelm, Stephen (2018), "Segmental and suprasegmental change in North West Yorkshire – a new case of supralocalisation?",Corela, HS-24 (HS-24), CerLiCO,doi:10.4000/corela.5203,S2CID150150043
Sounds Familiar?Archived 27 July 2010 at theWayback Machine – Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
Knur & Spell (Explanation of the game of Knur and Spell via commentary in West Riding dialect)
